Related Articles

Tiny ants don’t usually bite, sting or carry diseases, but they can still manage to make your life difficult when they move in with you. Your kitchen, garbage can, pet food dishes and sinks become filled with lines of little ants marching back and forth, finding food and ferrying it back to their nest. You can get the upper hand with these pests, but you may have to try more than one remedy before you hit on the right solution for your ant infestation.

Prevention

Colonies of tiny ants live outside your home, but come inside to seek out food. You can make it harder for them to invade by closing off any cracks, spaces around pipes or other openings where ants can get in, using silicone sealant. Keeping the floor and countertops clean and not leaving dirty dishes sitting around can help keep ants away, as can setting pet food dishes in a shallow pan of soapy water. Put all tempting packaged foods such as sugar, cereal and flour into glass jars with tight-fitting lids and gaskets.

Non-Toxic Controls

A light layer of garden or food grade diatomaceous earth sprinkled around the edges of any room that has an ant problem can kill the ants. A light layer works better than a thick one, since they may avoid a pile of DE, but will walk right through a thin dusting and end up suffering the dessicating effects. Spraying the ants and their trails with a mixture of dish detergent and water will kill them and destroy their scent trails. A few drops of peppermint oil added will further discourage them, as will spraying their entrances and trails with vinegar.

Baits

Baits are one of the most effective ways to kill tiny ants and stop the infestation in your home. The ants are attracted to the bait and carry some back to the nest to feed the queen and the other ants living there. All of the ants in the nest end up consuming some of the poison contained in the bait, which effectively kills not only the ants in your home but the rest of the nest as well. Baits must be placed where children and pets can’t reach them.

Pesticides

Drenches of chemicals such as permethrin, carbaryl or acephate will kill the entire colony when poured directly into their home. When you can’t locate the colony, you can treat the outside of the building with a pesticide spray or granules to make a barrier that keeps ants out. Some chemicals may need to be reapplied if they get wet.